These pistachio chocolate chip cookies are thick, chunky, and loaded full of dark chocolate and crunchy pistachios. They're made with browned butter so they have a hint of caramelized flavour. Not to mention, they're so easy to make with no electric mixer or chilling needed!
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Pistachio chocolate chip cookies are a delicious twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's a combination I keep going back to because it's so elegant with the pops of green from the pistachios against the pools of chocolate.
These cookies are made with a rich, buttery browned butter dough that's loaded with crunchy pistachios and dark chocolate or chocolate chips. You can use salted pistachios for even more flavour or sprinkle these cookies with flaky salt, as I always do. They're the perfect balance of sweet, salty, savoury, and bitter.
Why you'll love this recipe
- This recipe is so easy to make! There's no need to chill the dough and no electric mixer is needed.
- These cookies are made with browned butter for a lovely caramelized flavour.
- They're loaded with delicious dark chocolate and pistachios.
- Cookies always store and freeze well so you can bake off cookies whenever you want.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter - We're going to be making browned butter so roughly cut your butter up into smaller cubes so that they melt and brown evenly at the same rate. You can use cold butter straight from the fridge.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder - In combination with baking soda, this will help the cookies get nice and puffy.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Granulated sugar - Regular white sugar makes cookies sweet and soft.
- Brown sugar - Brown sugar makes cookies chewy and adds a deeper, caramelized flavour. We're using a combination of two sugars to get the best of both worlds.
- Egg - This should be at room temperature to prevent the butter from solidifying on contact with a cold egg.
- Vanilla extract - Just enhances the flavours of everything!
- Dark chocolate -ย Roughly chop the chocolate into smaller, varying sizes. Reserve a handful of extra chocolate for adding on top of the cookies for picture-perfect cookies (optional). You can also use chocolate chips if you'd like.
- Pistachios -ย Use shelled pistachios that are unsalted or salted. Roughly chop them and save a handful to add on top of your cookies (optional).
- Flaky salt -ย This is optional for sprinkling on top of the cookies. I always love adding this because I love the balance of sweet of salty. If you're using salted pistachios, you may want to skip adding extra flaky salt.
How to make pistachio chocolate chip cookies
Prep - Preheat oven to 350ยฐF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Brown the butter - In a small pot, heat butter on medium heat, stirring frequently. The melted butter will bubble up and the milk solids will separate out. Once the milk solids turn a toasted dark brown colour and the butter smells nutty, remove from heat and pour 115g of the browned butter into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool down.
Mix dry ingredients - In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Mix wet ingredients - To the bowl of browned butter, add granulated sugar and brown sugar. Whisk until combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth and creamy.
Add the dry to the wet mixture - Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold together with a spatula until some flour patches remain.
Incorporate mix-ins - Add the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips and pistachios. Finish folding together until just combined.
Scoop out cookie dough - Use a large cookie scooper and scoop out the cookie dough. Release them onto your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each dough ball.
Bake - Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just barely begin to brown. About 2 minutes before they're finished baking, press a few chocolate chunks into the tops of the cookies (optional).
Add more toppings - Once out of the oven, sprinkle with more pistachios and flaky salt. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely or enjoy warm!
Storage
Pistachio chocolate chip cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Cookies will get drier the longer you keep them. You can try the trick of adding a slice of fresh bread to the container to keep your cookies soft.
Freezing
Both the baked cookies and unbaked cookie dough can be frozen.
To freeze cookies: Store in an airtight container, freezer bag, or wrap well in plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature completely or reheat until warm before serving.
To freeze unbaked cookie dough: Scoop out the cookie dough into balls and place them on a baking tray or plate. Put the entire tray in the freezer for about 1 hour until the cookie dough is firm. Transfer the cookie dough balls to an airtight container, freezer bag, or wrap well in plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil for up to 1 month.
To thaw cookie dough: Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature before baking. To bake cookie dough straight from the freezer, lower the oven temperature by 25-50 degrees and bake cookies for a few minutes longer.
Tips & tricks
- Cube your butter before browning. You want the butter to melt evenly and brown at the same rate rather than having some milk solids burn while some aren't brown yet. Stir frequently to prevent milk solids at the bottom of the pot from toasting faster than others.
- Use only the indicated amount of browned butter in the dough. Browning butter causes water to evaporate from the butter but every stick of butter has a different water content. This is why we're starting with a larger amount of butter to account for the loss and then only adding a fixed amount of that browned butter to the cookie dough. This way, the amount of butter you use in the actual cookie dough will always be the same, no matter what kind of butter you use.
- Use the largest ice cream/cookie scooper you have. I recommend using at least a 3oz or 4oz cookie scooper. If you go any smaller than that, there simply isn't enough dough in each cookie for it to spread nicely. You could also just roll the dough into balls with your hands and weigh each ball for evenly sized-cookies.
- Don't overbake cookies. Cookies should still be very soft to the touch when you take them out of the oven. They'll continue to cook on the baking sheet and harden as they cool. This is key to making cookies that are soft and chewy in the middle.
- Swirl cookies around in a round cutter or bowl for perfect circles. Do this right after taking the cookies out of the oven while they're still soft and pliable. You can also use a fork to push any uneven edges inwards.
Frequently asked questions
You can use any kind of pistachios you like for baking. I recommend using shelled and unsalted pistachios for convenience and so that you can control the amount of salt in the cookies. You can also use raw, toasted, or salted pistachios. Toasting pistachios gives them a deep, roasted flavour but they'll also lose some of their green colour. Just use whatever is most convenient and tastiest for you!
Cookies will naturally become hard and dry the longer you keep them as they go stale. If your cookies are hard right after baking, you may have added too much flour or baked them for too long.
To keep cookies soft, store them in an airtight container with a piece of fresh white bread in the container. The cookies will draw out the moisture from the bread and absorb it. You can also reheat the cookies in the microwave with a damp paper towel on top. Otherwise, just eat your cookies on the same day they're baked!
More cookie recipes to try
- Chocolate Chip Sโmores Cookies
- Biscoff Stuffed Cookies
- Hojicha Cookies
- Matcha White Chocolate Cookies
- Ruby Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Recipe
Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredientsย ย
- 150 g unsalted butter, cubed
- 150 g all-purpose flour
- ยฝ teaspoon baking powder
- ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 50 g brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50 g dark chocolate or chocolate chips, roughly chopped + extra for topping
- 50 g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped + extra for topping
- flaky salt, for sprinkling
Instructionsย
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small pot, heat butter on medium heat, stirring frequently. The melted butter will bubble up and the milk solids will separate out. Once the milk solids turn a toasted dark brown colour and the butter smells nutty, remove from heat and pour 115g of the browned butter into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool down.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- To the bowl of browned butter, add granulated sugar and brown sugar. Whisk until combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth and creamy.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold together with a spatula until some flour patches remain.
- Add the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips and pistachios. Finish folding together until just combined.
- Use a large cookie scooper and scoop out the cookie dough. Release them onto your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" in between each dough ball.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just barely begin to brown. About 2 minutes before they're finished baking, press a few chocolate chunks into the tops of the cookies (optional).
- Once out of the oven, sprinkle with more pistachios and flaky salt. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely or enjoy warm!
Notes
- We're starting with 150g of butter and only using 115g of it in the cookie dough because the process of browning butter evaporates water from the butter.
- Everyone's butter has different levels of water content so we're adding a fixed amount of browned butter to the recipe to account for this variation.
- If you end up with less than 115g of browned butter, top it up with new butter while it's still warm to make it reach 115g in total.
Kay says
What brown sugar do you use? Demerara, dark soft brown or light soft brown sugar?
Angela Bova says
The cookies taste phenomenal but I have no idea what I did wrong. They came out very flat and huge! When I saw the way the batter looked, I thought maybe I should chill it in the fridge for while but decided against it since the recipe didn't suggest it. I followed the recipe exactly so I have no clue. Any ideas?
Sheila says
The same exact thing happened to meโฆ. Flat and huge lol. I would love to know what happened as well. Thank you, Gail!
Ping says
Hi Gail
Whether I use double or triple the recipe, amount of brown butter remains 115g?
Gail Ng says
No, you'll have to scale it accordingly. That recipe card feature can't adjust amounts listed in the instructions!
Lina says
What size cookie scoop do you consider large? 2 or 3 TBSP?
Gail Ng says
3 or 4 tbsp! I usually use a 4 tbsp one